


Passing On

by Prinzenhasserin



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Character Death, Fae & Fairies, Kidnapping, M/M, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-21 23:54:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12468820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prinzenhasserin/pseuds/Prinzenhasserin
Summary: Jareth keeps Toby in the labyrinth.





	Passing On

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shewhoguards](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shewhoguards/gifts).



2

The toddler grabs the butterfly fluttering in front of him — it’s big, larger than his head, and sparkles quite naturally, not only in sunlight. Toby hasn’t yet learned fine motor control, and when he grabs the wings, he crushes them, too.

Jareth smiles.

Toddlers learn by doing; down in the labyrinth a pile of broken sparkling wings continues to grow. Here, in Toby’s hands the butterfly disappears into purple smoke, and the small human laughs, and toddles along to the other butterflies frolicking in the fields. It’s not real, but real enough, and that’s all that matters in the end.

 

3

The tower, built out of glass stones large enough to not be swallowed, wavers. It holds steadfast, and Jareth watches its duplicate on the horizon in satisfaction. It’s anchored already, so he isn’t worried about its inevitable fall, will be delighted by the glittering shards all over the floor — can’t seem to wait for it, honestly.

Toby, the architect, watches in delight. He puts another stone in green on top, watches as the light catches, and distributes it downwards in ways against the human laws of physics, but in the way Toby himself thinks is quite natural. 

The tower falls.

 

5

There’s this game Toby plays with the goblins. He chases them around, and when he catches them, out comes the poker.

Jareth hadn’t initiated the game. He was pleasantly surprised by the small human that powers his precious labyrinth. The poker was made out of iron, and Jareth had quite forgotten it existed, until Toby had unearthed it.

Toby is a fast runner, but sometimes Jareth still trips his goblins on purpose, just to watch them burn. 

"No, don’t!" the goblin calls out in panic. 

But the poker descends, touches the delicate fairy skin, and the goblin starts to scream.

 

8

Toby is clever, and that shouldn’t surprise Jareth, since his sister had been clever enough to steal back the Goblin King’s things. He’s clever and cruel and Jareth is delighted. He grows by leaps and bounds daily, and it’s as joyful to watch him grow as it is to watch him torment goblins.

He calls for food; and when they bring it to him he wants a different kind. He builds walls, and houses, and forts — and they are easily transferred into his labyrinth. He paints the walls red, the grass blue and the sky yellow.

The labyrinth is alive.

 

13

Toby brings a raven to the castle. It is dying, and Toby asks to fix it. Just as Jareth is looking at it, the bird dies. A pitiful existence, but there is nothing Jareth can do.

Toby, on the other hand, is inconsolable. He buries the raven, has the goblins play a funeral march, and doesn’t eat food for days.

Jareth is baffled by this — the labyrinth darkens, and a shroud-like mist begins to cover it. The goblins worry about having displeased him.

The next day, Toby wakes up and the labyrinth is the same as it ever was.

 

21

"More," Toby says. He is dreaming, but that doesn’t stop Jareth from delivering on that request. He continues his caresses, gives what Toby craves, always, in return for his imagination spent harnessing the labyrinth.

Toby’s dreams are always interesting, even when they go for more explicit surroundings, and Jareth can always serve him well.

He changes his touch, gentles it into something far more tentative, and Toby arches back into his hand. Jareth amplifies the touch again, and is rewarded with a drawn out moan.

"Again," Toby pleads, desperately.

Jareth gives into his demands and indulges him in his pleasures.

 

34

Jareth keeps Toby in his pocket dimension, where time doesn’t touch him, much. Time is insidious, and creeps in through all sorts of cracks, and Jareth can’t keep his eyes on him forever. Toby is grown, now. Wrinkles keep appearing near his eyes, and Jareth keeps smoothing them over, in case it helps.

Toby is still clever, his imagination has no limits, and the only reason Jareth can’t keep him forever is that he’s still so fragile and human.

Even spending this long in the Goblin Kingdom, his blood bleeds red, and he needs food for nourishment.

Jareth sighs, dejected.

 

55

"I didn’t come here voluntary, did I?" Toby says in a rare moment of clarity. In return, Jareth glamours him again, then slowly dangles grapes in front of his mouth.

Toby has a troubled look on his face, his skin wrinkling even through Jareth’s every effort. He still takes the juicy pebbles in the delicate way Jareth trained him to, licks Jareth’s fingers, and then silently begs for more.

Jareth can see him escaping through the inevitability of time, and he hates it. But for now, Toby is here and he’s going to use him for all that he’s worth.

 

89

It is a blink of an eye, not much more; and then Jareth watches as Toby’s soul passes on. He should have kept him a goblin, Jareth thinks and regrets his decisions. He’s going to need a new human, again.

The same would have happened if Toby had remained a goblin, but at least Jareth wouldn’t have _cared_. It is a curse he took on willingly, if maybe not entirely prepared.

Toby isn’t his first human, isn’t the first human to pass on even, but it’s always new again for Jareth, how much he will care, in so little time.


End file.
